“Some good weather these past few weeks has meant that our lambs have had access to good quality grass, making for plentiful supplies of quality new season PGI Welsh Lamb.

“The next few weeks are critical not just for our footballers, but also for farmers, as the fortunes of this year’s lamb crop relies heavily on the major retailers switching to sourcing in-season, PGI Welsh Lamb.

“We are asking for your support in making this happen by making sure that you choose PGI Welsh Lamb this weekend.”

Euro 2016 campaign aims to reverse falls in lamb consumption

This week saw the launch of a lamb PR campaign to tie in with the start of the Euro 2016 football championships.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Interbev in France and Bord Bia, in Ireland, are working on the jointly-funded campaign geared towards reversing a steady decline in lamb sales across Europe in recent years.

Football and barbecue-themed press adverts will be running in newspapers and women’s magazines from today.

These will focus on the versatility of lamb, and its speed and ease of preparation.

Digital advertising and online recipe videos will also showcase the breadth of dishes that can be cooked with lamb.

Mo Fisher, of AHDB Beef & Lamb said: “Lamb is perfect to cook on the barbecue and is ideally suited to a whole range of quick, tasty dishes which consumers can enjoy while making the most of our summer of sport.”

The €7.7m “Lamb. Tasty Easy Fun” campaign, which is 50% funded by the EU, is running in six countries – the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark.

Together, these markets represent over half of the lamb consumed in Europe.

The campaign also aims to promote the benefits of European lamb farming for society, particularly its role in protecting biodiversity and sustaining rural communities.